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Ethiopia Demography and Geography of Religious Affiliation
Statistical data on religious affiliation, like those on
ethnic groups, are unreliable. Most Orthodox Christians are
Amhara and Tigray, two groups that together constitute more
than 40 percent of the population. When members of these two
groups are combined with others who have accepted Orthodoxy,
the total Christian population might come to roughly 50
percent of all Ethiopians.
Muslims have been estimated to constitute 40 percent of the
population. The largest ethnic group associated with Islam
is the Somali. Several other much smaller Islamic groups
include the Afar, Argobba, Hareri, Saho, and most Tigrespeaking groups in northern Eritrea (see
Ethiopia's Peoples,
this ch.). Oromo also constitute a large proportion of the
total Muslim population. There are also Muslims in other
important ethnic categories, e.g., the Sidamo speakers and
the Gurage. In the far north and the east, and to some
extent in the south, Islamic peoples surround Orthodox
Christians.
The only people (variously estimated at 5 to 15 percent of
the population) who have had little if any contact with
Orthodox Christianity or Islam live in the far south and the
west. Included among adherents of indigenous religions are
most of those speaking Nilo-Saharan languages and many of
those speaking Omotic and Cushitic, including sections of
the Oromo, such as the pastoral Borana. It is among these
peoples that the few converts to missionary Christianity--
Protestant and Roman Catholic--are to be found.
Data as of 1991
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